Joba leaves to be with ailing dad

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- By the time the Yankees' charter flight from Boston landed in Tampa early yesterday, Joba Chamberlain had pulled himself together. It was not easy.

The 22-year-old reliever learned late Sunday that his father Harlan had collapsed at his home in Lincoln, Neb. The man who single-handedly raised him despite being crippled by polio, who pushed his son to develop from a chubby onlooker to a dominating major-league pitcher, was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

Chamberlain, devastated, broke down in the Fenway Park visitor's clubhouse and had to be comforted by manager Joe Girardi. Then, with the Yankees' blessing, he flew home to Lincoln yesterday morning to be with his family. He was placed on baseball's bereavement list and will miss at least three games.

"He's got to take care of his dad," Girardi said, "and when the time is right he'll be back."

St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln was bombarded with calls from media yesterday seeking information about Harlan Chamberlain, to the point that the family requested no further information be released. Chamberlain then issued his own statement through the Yankees yesterday afternoon.

"As many of you know, my family is dealing with a serious, personal medical condition involving my father Harlan," Chamberlain's statement said. "He is currently in critical but stable condition. We cannot express how much we appreciate the enormous amount of love and compassion that has been shown to my family by so many.

"I also want to thank my teammates and my manager for giving me so much support when I have needed it most. Their actions are the reason I was able to reach my father's side as quickly as I did. I ask that you please afford my family the privacy that it needs to deal with my father's condition appropriately. In turn, I will provide updates through the Yankees as they become available to me."

Girardi said that Harlan was sedated yesterday, and that the family was waiting for the results of tests. Harlan, who had polio as an infant and now uses a motorized scooter, is also deaf in one ear and without full use of his left arm. He became a regular and popular fixture both at Yankee games in Kansas City, Mo., near his home and at Yankee Stadium after his son was called up last August.

"Just to say that I've been there, I've seen it, it's just truly, truly an honor," Harlan said upon visiting Yankee Stadium for this season's opening series. "And the players, when they get back from batting practice, they all come over and say hello, and address me by name."

In addition to his trip to the Bronx two weeks ago, Harlan was at Kauffman Stadium last week when the Yankees played the Royals.

"You can see the pleasure they get from each other, being around each other," Girardi said, "and the father watching his son play and the son playing so his father can watch. It's a great story."

A prolonged illness for Harlan would undoubtedly have a significant effect on Chamberlain, though Phil Hughes, one of the young pitchers on the Yankees who is close with Chamberlain, said Chamberlain seemed in better spirits by the time he left for Nebraska.

"He seemed fine when we got here," Hughes said. "I know he was a little shaken up at first, but once we got here last night he seemed fine."

With no set return date for Chamberlain, who had not allowed a run in his 5Ð innings this season, the Yankees will have to use a patchwork of other relievers to fill his eighth-inning role.

"You look at the people you have available that night, and you look at matchups, and that's how we'll do it," Girardi said.

The Yankees called up right-handed reliever Jonathan Albaladejo to replace Chamberlain while he is on leave.